Gastric Submucosal Tissue as a Novel Diagnostic Tool

Abstract

A cell culture growth substrate comprising submucosal tissue of a warm-blooded vertebrate and a method for culturing fastidious organisms is described. Submucosal tissue used in accordance with the present invention supports the proliferation of cells when said cells are contacted with submucosal tissue under conditions conducive to cell proliferation.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09 / 319,841 filed Jun. 10, 1999, which is a U.S. national application of international application Serial No. PCT / US97 / 22729 filed Dec. 10, 1997, which claims priority to U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60 / 032,686 filed Dec. 10, 1996.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates to a submucosal tissue composition and the use of those compositions to promote growth of fastidious cells. More particularly, the present invention is directed to the use of submucosal tissue cell culture substrates to enhance the in vitro growth, and thus the identification and diagnosis, of vertebrate infections agents.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]Bacteria are a diverse group of organisms that live in a broad variety of environments. In particular, many bacterial species live both on and in vertebrate hosts. Bacteria that colonize the interior spaces of vertebrates typically ex...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0011]The present invention is directed to an extracellular matrix, comprising vertebrate submucosal tissues, that provides the necessary microenvironment to allow the in vitro culture of fastidious organisms. Naturally occurring extracellular matrices have the ability to serve as a substrate for the growth of prokaryotic organisms, fungal agents and less well defined infectious agents of different genus and species which are difficult to grow in standard culture media. The extracellular matrixes of the present invention enhance the growth, and thus the detection of, and diagnosis of disease states caused by, these organisms. Likewise, cell culture substrates comprising submucosal tissue isolated from the stomach, the urinary tract, or the intestines can be utilized to mimic the natural in vivo environments of those tissue source organs. Thus cells growing on such substrates in vitro will provide more physiologically relevant data regarding the susceptibility of these organisms to various potential therapeutic agents.

Problems solved by technology

However, many detected strains have proven to be difficult to culture outside their natural micronenvironment due to the unique culture conditions required by these organisms.

Many infectious agents when placed on existing culture media often fail to grow and therefore are not detected, given the state of the present technology.

Many bacteria cannot survive in an acidic environment, however H. pylori are not the only bacteria capable of colonizing the surface of a primate's stomach.

Although blood tests are useful for an initial screen for detecting the existence of an H. pylori infection, The blood test is based on detecting antibodies to H. pylori and thus is not a direct test for the presence of viable H. pylori bacter

This remains the current method for growing H. pylori, and accordingly, the method suffers the disadvantage of requiring long incubation times and the use of expensive complex media formulations.

Furthermore, the presently used culture media fail to mimic the natural in vivo environment of H. pylori.

Therefore, current studies of cellular function that are based on the in vitro growth of H. pylori, are limited by the lack of cell growth substrates that present the appropriate physiological environment for proliferation and development of the cultured cells.